Rejuvenating the rewards typology: Qualitative insights into reward preferences

For many people, work is no longer a choice. People draw on their earnings to uphold basic survival needs, live comfortably, pursue recreational activities and in general, afford characteristics of the modern lifestyle (Cosma & Gilceava, 2014; Javid & Chapa, 2014; Pasztor & Valent, 2016; Yao, Parker, Arrowsmith, & Carr, 2017; Yousaf, Latif, Aslam, & Saddiqui, 2014). Although the importance of pay cannot be overstated, the idea that employees merely seek money from what they do is not necessarily true. Whilst financial rewards may be used to satisfy the basic needs of employees as well as attract and retain top talent (Alhmoud & Rjoub, 2019; Osibanjo, Adeniji, Falola, & Heirsmac, 2014; Terera & Ngirande, 2014), research has concluded that alone, it is not a sustainable motivational solution to driving their finest performance (Kulchmanov & Kaliannan, 2014; Mundhra & Jacob, 2011) or overall, satisfaction with their jobs (Akafo & Boateng, 2015; Huang, 2016; Ollar & Uwakwe, 2020). In fact, financial rewards are only ‘part of the parcel’ in one’s working life and not enough for organisations to harness long-term employee motivation and enthusiasm (Kathombe, Kipchumba, & Kirui, 2018; Mokhniuk, 2016; Mundhra & Jacob, 2011; Singh, 2016).